Legal Help Desk

Lambda Legal will have a big presence at the 26th annual Creating Change conference this week in Houston, TX!

Organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Creating Change is the largest annual gathering of activists, organizers and leaders in the LGBT movement. It attracts more than 3,500 people from across the country every year. This year’s conference starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

Lambda Legal community educators, attorneys and other staff will be leading and presenting at 12 educational sessions at this year’s conference. We welcome you to attend one of our sessions or stop by our table in the exhibit hall, where we will also be presenting our "Who Inspires You?" photo exhibit which will include photos taken at Pride festivals around the country last year. If you cannot make it to Houston this year, you can stay up to date on conference events by following our live tweets during the week at @LambdaLegal.

Here are some of the highlights of Lambda Legal's participation at Creating Change:

From Stonewall to Stop and Frisk: Police Violence, Government Misconduct and Criminalization of LGBTQ Communities9:00 am - 6:00 pmDiscuss patterns of police violence and criminalization of LGBTQ communities across the country and highlight campaigns and organizing to provide tools for participants to organize against police violence in their communities. Organized by Lambda Legal, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, and Streetwise and Safe. Lambda Legal Presenters: Beverly Tillery, Deputy Director of Education & Public Affairs - Education, Advocacy and Inclusion; Holiday Simmons, Director of Community Education and Advocacy

LGBT Elder Institute 2014: Movement Building: Creating an Age Aware Activist Network
9:00 am - 6:00 pmHear from LGBT activists and providers about how they work to build an age-inclusive activist movement, raise awareness, and advocate for change in their communities while tackling issues of primary importance to LGBT elders and elders of color. Organized by SAGE. Lambda Legal Presenter: Karen Loewy, Senior Staff Attorney

The Black Institute: From the Civil Rights Movement to the LGBT-Equality Movement
9:00 am - 6:00 pmExplore the challenges and successes while living at the intersection of racial justice and LGBT equality. This Institute is organized and presented by the National Black Justice Coalition. Lambda Legal Presenter: Holiday Simmons, Director of Community Education and Advocacy

Friday, January 31, 2014

DOMA for Dummies...and Organizers
9:00 am - 10:30 amCome find out more about the new legal landscape for same-sex couples and strategize ways organizers and advocates can pass on this critical information while activating community members to achieve LGBT rights on all fronts. Lambda Legal Presenters: Crispin Torres, Community Educator; Omar Narvaéz, Community Educator; Paul Castillo, Staff Attorney

Fair Courts and Life as a Judge
9:00 am - 10:30 amLambda Legal and Justice at Stake examine the role of courts and access to justice for LGBTQ people while strategizing ways to combat anti-LGBT efforts to politicize courts and intimidate judge who uphold constitutional rights. Presenters include Judge Phyllis Frye and Judge Tonya Parker. Lambda Legal Presenter: Eric Lesh, Fair Courts Project Manager

Fenced In: HIV/AIDS in the US Criminal Justice System
10:45 am - 12:15 pmIn collaboration with Gay Men’s Health Crisis, this workshop will provide information and foster ways to create change in the behavioral, institutional, and structural drivers elevating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS throughout the correctional system, which disproportionately affects low-income communities of color during and post incarceration targeting the lack of housing. Lambda Legal Presenter: Omar Narvaéz, Community Educator

The Ties That Bind: Coming Out, Acceptance and Intergenerational Dialogue in Our Families of Color
4:45 pm - 6:15 pmCreate a dialogue for queer people of color to explore the issues of family acceptance, racism and homophobia with our families of origin and explore how LGBTQ organizations can make family acceptance part of their work in communities of color. Lambda Legal Presenters: Marco Castro-Bojorquéz, Community Educator; Beverly Tillery, Deputy Director of Education & Public Affairs - Education, Advocacy and Inclusion; Aron Cobbs, Community Educator; Luis Roman-Garcia, Uniting America Fellow

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Black Native Futuring: The Black, The Red, the Queer, the Two-Spirit
4:45 pm - 6:15 pmExplore some of the history of the complex dynamics and present two-sprit identities as a viable archetype for people of both LGBT Native Americans and LGBT Black Native people/Black people of Native descent. Lambda Legal Presenter: Holiday Simmons, Director of Community Education and Advocacy